Jo Cameron
A brief introduction to Jo Cameron
Jo Cameron is a well-known businesswoman, BBC Contributor and Leadership Consultant. She first came to public consciousness as a candidate on the hit TV Show The Apprentice in 2006.
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Jo Cameron's biography
Jo Cameron is a well-known businesswoman, BBC Contributor and Leadership Consultant. She first came to public consciousness as a candidate on the hit TV Show The Apprentice in 2006. She is the Founder of The Network of Aspiring Women, a business networking club for women who are serious about business and making an impact in the world. Jo also works as a leadership consultant specialising in progressing women into leadership roles. She is a renowned professional speaker and has a regular position with the BBC as their Business Watcher.
Jo is passionate about supporting charitable work and is patron of the stillbirth Charity SANDS and an ambassador for the Birmingham Children’s hospital.
The Network of Aspiring Women boasts the highest of profiles and her High Performance Academy offers class leading training and development programmes, focussing mainly on Women’s Development and consultancy. Having won The Weakest Link in 2007 she continues to be a regular contributor for the BBC. Her speaking engagements remain ever buoyant.
The life changing events of her companies receive acclaim at the highest levels including from the former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, high profile celebrities and business people. Each year thousands attend her events and training courses all over the UK. The events attract tens of thousands of pounds of media coverage too.
Setting up her first business in 2004, after being made redundant, her entrepreneurial career took off. In the early days she combined working at a university on MBA programmes with Freelance Consultancy.
In 2006 she beat off 10 000 other hopefuls to secure her place in The Apprentice. She was the most written about and most memorable candidate. What made her stand out was her authenticity, her determination and her ability to stand up for what she believed in. She made so much of an impact that she was commissioned to write the official BBC Apprentice column the following year in 2007.
After overcoming devastating personal loss in 2006, when her first baby was born prematurely and died a few hours later, she has become dedicated to helping people achieve despite the odds.
Her achievements started at an early age. After leaving school she took up a career in Engineering and went on to be awarded the regional Engineering Apprentice of the Year, at a time when there were very few women in the field. She then climbed a very challenging corporate ladder to reach a Senior Management position which only a handful of women achieve. Academically, she received the award for the best submitted thesis for her comprehensive work at Masters Degree level where she studied extensively the progression of minorities in the workplace and gender stereotypes.
In 2007 she applied her positive psychology to win TV’s Weakest Link Apprentice Special, beating candidates from all four series of the show to win over £11 000 for her chosen charity. It was made extra special by the fact that two years earlier she had been voted off first.
Her recent introduction into exclusive events has led to her interviewing high profile people such as Cherie Blair the wife of former British Prime Minister, Jacqui Smith, the former Home Secretary and Ffion Hague wife of William, both of whom have offered her testimony to her ability in this area.
She continues to be a very active fund raiser for the charity for which she is patron, Sands (Stillbirth and Neonatal Death) and acting as an ambassador for the Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
Jo is also mentors young business people on the Prince’s Trust Programme. Her membership of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development firmly crystallises her expertise in the area of personal development. It is this expertise that has led to many articles being written by Jo for several specialist publications.
She remains in demand as a media commentator on TV and Radio appearing at least once a week on radio, and as a motivational speaker at conferences. She has addressed audiences at such diverse venues as Oxford and Glasgow Universities, Lancashire Constabulary, Women in Business organisations and Chambers of Commerce. Her unrivalled determination continually to improve her own performance means that she always leaves a lasting impact!
As a writer, Jo was commissioned to write a weekly column for People Management online in 2010 commenting on The Apprentice.
More recently, she is also stretching her personal fitness and stamina by running half marathons.
Jo is mum to a baby daughter and partner to Julian.
Call the Apprentice Speakers on 08707 602 813